I’m confused by the amount of comments I see about how it’s crazy that Ivey didn’t get more minutes and that Killian was bad.
For Ivey, Monty has been super transparent. If you get blown by and cannot play defense, he’s going to hold you accountable. Tonight wasn’t his night offensively and so it makes sense between not having his offense going for him and being bad defensively that he only got the minutes he did.
For Killian, Monty has been very clear about him as well. He likes that he’s a big guard, that always makes the right decision, plays good defense. He hasn’t once said, I really like his ability to score or space the floor. That’s not why he’s getting his minutes so please stop box score watching and pay attention to what he’s actually contributing to the team.
I 100% realize this is an irrational take, but I think back to Ausar and Ivey on the floor during Ausar’s first summer league game and though it may have been an unfair assessment, it was perceived that Ivey was icing him out of the offense. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it, felt like a dick move on Ivey’s part. Maybe Monty noticed it too, since he’s been nothing but praise for Ausar.
I need examples of players who were able to claw out of Monty’s doghouse while he was in Phoenix. Last night’s body language was brutal. I know Ivey cares, and wants to make it work, especially in Detroit, but man did he give off some serious fragility. It’s only one game, so no going off the deep end, but if we go 10 games and he’s in the same predicament, I would not be surprised if he was on his way out.
I did not have Killian taking Ivey’s minutes on my bingo card…pretty wild.